Pirate's Cove

It’s almost like people realize that heatwaves happen and they’re not willing to give up their money and freedom over a small increase in global temperatures

‘A war of the truth’: Europe’s heatwaves are failing to spur support for climate action

Wait, I don’t have global heating on here?

It’s just too much, isn’t it?” says Julie, a retiree in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, about the 42C (107.6F) heat that her brother had seen scorch Spain last week. The former local government worker has felt summers get hotter over her lifetime and says she “couldn’t stand” such high heat herself.

But like many who experienced Europe’s first heatwave of the summer, Julie does not sound overly alarmed. She worries about climate breakdown for young people, but is not concerned about herself. She thinks more climate action would be nice, but does not know what can be done about it. She does not have much faith in the government.

“It’s like everything else,” she says. “I think it’s all too little, too late.”

In other words, she can talk the talk, but, she’s not particularly interested in walking the walk.

Governments across the rich world continue to roll back policies to stop the planet from heating, while far-right parties that deny climate science lash out at environment rules even as disasters unfold. Their voters, while rarely climate deniers themselves, seem to tolerate their energetic attacks on environmental policy, if not support them.

Walk. Talk. Action in your own lives, rather than forcing others to comply.

Polls taken over the second-last weekend of June show most people in the UK found the previous week of weather too hot, are worried it will get hotter, and hold the climate crisis at least partly responsible. But the nonprofit also found the share of people concerned about climate change has fallen over the past year, dipping from 68% to 60%. Support for the UK’s target to hit net zero emissions by 2050 fell even further, plunging from 62% to 46%.

“The issue is really that there are so many other concerns now,” said Hodgson, citing the organisation’s data tracking the top issues that people face each week. “Three years ago you’d have the cost of living first, then the National Health Service, and then immigration and climate – those two would compete for third place. Now, when we do those polls, climate is near the bottom of the list.”

It usually is, when real world concerns come into play. And people are waking up to what this whole Net Zero scam will do, when they can actually see it in practice, via higher energy costs for less reliable energy. The government telling them what they can eat and what they can do. Taxing them. And so much more. It’s not theory, it’s actually in practice. And they do not like it.